Mumbai: The opposition parties in Maharashtra on Thursday challenged deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to put the evidence in public domain in connection with senior NCP (SP) leader Anil Deshmukh’s remarks against Uddhav Thackeray and NCP founder Sharad Pawar. Deshmukh, ex-home minister of Maharashtra, claimed that Devendra Fadnavis had pressured him into signing false affidavits against the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, Aditya Thackeray, Anil Parab and Ajit Pawar to destabilise the MVA government three years ago. Refuting the allegations, Fadnavis said he has audio recordings of Deshmukh talking against Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray.
Deshmukh, former state home minister, who had to step down after his arrest in connection with extortion and money laundering cases in 2021, claimed that he has the evidence of his allegations against Fadnavis on a pen drive. “Yesterday, Fadnavis claimed that he has some video clips about my comments against Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray. Then he should make the video clips public because I know he possesses none,” the NCP (SP) leader said.
However, BJP leader Chitra Wagh claimed that Deshmukh showed an empty pen drive to mislead the people. “If he has evidence in the pen drive he would put it before the public. Following this, the BJP would release all the recordings of Anil Deshmukh in public domain in the next three hours,” she said.
The development comes ahead of Maharashtra Assembly election, which is scheduled to be held in mid of October this year. It appears that these developments in the last 48 hours in Maharashtra are setting a tone for the Assembly election. Anti-superstition crusader and noted rationalist Shyam Manav has also claimed that he was privy to the information that Anil Deshmukh was approached by Fadnavis’s confidant to implicate the MVA leaders. In lieu of this, Mr. Deshmukh would get protection from jail in connection with the charges of corruption levied by ex-Mumbai Police chief Parambir Singh. Interestingly, Manav also termed the present Maharashtra government as the one of “shetji and bhatji” (Baniyas and Brahmins) and hailed Uddhav Thackeray, Rahul Gandhi and Sharad Pawar as “assuring faces”.
Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole also said that if Fadnavis has evidence, he should take actions, instead of issuing threats. The BJP led government is extensively using central agencies including ED, CBI, and IT to eliminate its opponents, he said.
“Those who accepted the BJP’s offer became pure and those who refused faced actions by the agencies (ED and CBI) and were jailed,” the Congress leader said.
